Reading Notes: The Giant Dog

-there was a man who had a dog so big it could haul narwhals
-the man put throngs through its jaws so that he could mount and ride it
-the man wished to have a son but never did so he put the amulet meant for his son around the dogs neck
-the dog once ate a man so the man who owned him had to move elsewhere
-once a stranger came so the man had to take the dog far away and give it a giant bone to gnaw on
-but the dog smelt the stranger so he was sent away because the dog was so fierce
-the man had many enemies because of the dog
-one of them rode to the mans house with 3 dogs that were big as bears to kill the giant dog
-the giant dog pretended to act scared but then surprised the 3 dogs and crushed their skulls
-the man noticed that the dog would sometimes wander off
-it would then return with the leg of an inland-dweller
-it was because of this dog that all inland-dwellers had a fear of dogs
-but it was okay, because inland-dwellers were known to carry off anyone stranded in the fog

Clifford the Big Red Dog. Source: Flickr

"The Giant Dog" from Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).